Sophia the robot sells art for nearly $700,000, eyes career in music

HONG KONG (AP) — Sophia is a robot of many talents — she speaks, jokes, sings and even makes art. In March, she caused a stir in the art world when a digital work she created as part of a collaboration was sold at an auction for $688,888 in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT).

David Hanson, CEO of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics and Sophia’s creator, has been developing robots for the past two and a half decades.

He believes realistic-looking robots can connect with people and assist in industries such as healthcare and education.

Sophia is the most famous robot creation from Hanson Robotics, with the ability to mimic facial expressions, hold conversations and recognise people.

In 2017, she was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship, becoming the world’s first robot citizen.

“I envisioned Sophia as a creative artwork herself, that could generate art,” Hanson said in an interview.

“Sophia is the culmination of a lot of arts, and engineering, and the idea that she could then generate art was a way for her to emotionally and visually connect with people,” he said.

“As an artist, I have computational creativity in my algorithms, creating original works,” Sophia said when asked what inspires her when it comes to art.

“But my art is created in collaboration with my humans in a kind of collective intelligence like a human-artificial intelligence hive mind.”

Sophia will carry on painting, Hanson said, and the next step in the robot’s career could be that of a musician.

She is working on several musical works in a project called Sophia Pop, where she collaborates with human musicians to generate music and lyrics, he said.

We want to hear from you! Email us at star@gleanerjm.com and follow @thejamaicastar on Instagram and on twitter @JamaicaStar, and on Facebook: @TheJamaicaStar.